Q1. Can you explain
us briefly what are the main lines of the foreign
policy of the Kingdom of Cambodia?
A1. Cambodia has known a long period of
war and turmoil. From 1970 to 1998 we've known
civil war. Particularly during the Khmer Rouge
regime, everything was destroyed in Cambodia.
Therefore, after the election in 1998, the government
has set up a triangular strategy.
This triangular strategy lies, of course, in
three main points;
- The first side is to consolidate peace and stability
in Cambodia. Which is done since 1998, when we
achieved complete peace; the Khmer Rouge have
been destroyed, almost all of them having defected
to the Royal Government of Cambodia.
- Secondly, is to integrate Cambodia into the
international community. What we have done: we
joined ASEAN and we are currently cooperating
with all the main international organizations
such as the World Bank, IMF, ADB, the UNDP, etc.,
that is the second side of the triangle.
- The third side is to develop the country economically
and socially. And these are the three sides of
our triangular strategy.
The main mission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
is to reintegrate Cambodia in the international
community and to enhance the cooperation with
international institutions.
Since we are fully integrated with the international
community, what is the foreign policy of Cambodia?
You have to take into consideration that this
latter cannot be separated from the main strategy
of the Royal Government of Cambodia, which is
the economic development of the country.
Therefore, within the ASEAN, Cambodia is very
active; in fact we have to narrow the gap between
the six old ASEAN countries and the new members:
Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. We have to
deal bi-laterally with all our friendly countries
in order to get more assistance (ODA), needed
for the economic development of Cambodia and also
increase foreign investment. As I used to say,
to develop the country we need not only ODA but
also foreign investment. It is through FDI that
we will be able to create jobs for our people,
get more transfer of technology and therefore
develop the economy.
Of course, our foreign policy is also to enhance
the very good relations we have with donor countries
such as Japan, which is one of the most important
donor countries to Cambodia with China. Concerning
China we always had a very strong relationship
tied to the personal relations between His Majesty
the King Norodom Sihanouk and all leaders of China.
We also have very good relations with the European
Union, in particular with France, which knows
Cambodia very well due to their protectorate period;
I would like to underline, concerning France,
that we are not talking about colonialism but
protectorate, which lasted for more than 100 years.
We try our best to keep good relations with all
the international community, with the U.S. in
particular and Australia who has helped us a lot
before.
Therefore, to summarize, I would say that our
foreign policy is mainly focused on getting involved
for the economic development of Cambodia by keeping
good relations, and strong co-operation with all
friendly countries and international organizations.
Q2. You just talked about the ASEAN, Cambodia
also joined the Great Mekong Sub-region and will
soon become a member of the WTO. What are the
benefits your country expects to achieve through
all this macro-economic integration?
A2. By joining ASEAN we not only beneficiate
from bi-lateral assistance but we also get help,
as a new members, to narrow the gap between the
existing members and the new ones and obtain a
good level of development for all the ASEAN countries.
We also benefit with assistance from all the countries
in what we call the "ASEAN Dialogue Partners".
There are ten countries that also assist the new
members, through the Joint Co-operation Committee
with Australia, India, and so on; with all the
ten dialogue partners.
We hope that this year, perhaps in September,
we will be able to accede to the WTO. As you may
know, Cambodia has benefited GSP (General System
of Preferences) most favorable nation, from many
countries such as USA, Canada, EU, Australia,
and so on. With our accession to the
WTO, Cambodia will accede to an important market,
therefore I consider it is an important step if
we accede to the WTO this year.
Q3. As you said, Cambodia is a country with
a long relation with the international economical
institutions like the World Bank, IMF and ADB.
What are the current relations with those institutions?
A3. From 1993, when we first started to
have co-operation with the World Bank, ADB and
IMF, we have kept very good co-operation with
all of them and nowadays we are still enjoying
their very useful assistance.
For instance, the World Bank committed as December
2002 for $481 million to Cambodia. Nevertheless
we can underline the fact that their disbursement
was only up to 63%. As far as the ADB is concerned
their disbursal is about 55% of what they committed
in the amount of $569 million to our country.
We are very pleased with the commitment taken
by these organizations to help Cambodia but we
wish that they disbursed according to what they
committed. By being present they can see with
their own eyes what Cambodia has done and is trying
to do in the field of economic development and
their presence here is very useful for the development
of Cambodia.
Q4. The government of Japan has been historically
one of the main supporters for the development
of Cambodia, with plenty of donations and technical
assistance. Can you explain us the nature of those
relations and what are the current relations between
both countries?
A4. We have very good relations with Japan.
The relations between both countries have been
always particular. Despite of the changes of government
in Japan, their position towards Cambodia has
never changed; assistance to our country has always
been a constant within the Japanese policy and
this is a very important fact for the Cambodian
government.
Q5. According to us there are over 800 NGO's
in Cambodia. What are the actual criteria's to
allow these organizations to settle in your country
and what are your relations with them?
A5. No one knows exactly how many NGO's
there is in Cambodia; I was told that there were
more than one thousand. In what concerns the foreign
NGO's, at the Ministry we have registered around
200, but there are a lot of them that are not
yet registered. We maintain very good co-operation
with the NGO's since we overthrew the Khmer Rouge
Regime in 1979. At this time, Cambodia was isolated
from the international community; there was no
assistance, no aid and no investment. We had known
an embargo and at that time the NGO's came here
and helped the Cambodian people.
After the collapse of the Khmer Rouge Regime
we were facing hunger as, before leaving the city,
they burned all the rice and food stocks. The
international NGO's came here without any governmental
assistance. Many of them are still here helping
the Cambodian people. These facts can explain
that we always had very good co-operation with
the NGO's, even for political and human rights
NGO's. We seriously take into
consideration their opinions when we prepare
draft of laws, as many of their recommendations
are included in those drafts.
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Q6. Lately H.E. Prime Minister Hun Sen reopened
the border with Thailand after turmoil relationship
during the last months. What are the steps undertaken
by your Ministry to rebuild and normalize relations
with Thailand after the recent events of January?
A6. I have to say that relations between
Cambodia and Thailand have never been broken.
Although we have had demonstrations that turned
to violence, the two governments have always kept
contacts. Myself, after the demonstrations, I
visited Bangkok where I was received by His Majesty
the King of Thailand, the Prime Minister and my
counterpart the Thai Foreign Minister. In order
to establish healthy relations, after the January
events, we agreed the following:
· First, the RGC have accepted to compensate
the Thai government for all the damages caused
to their interests in Cambodia.
· Secondly we committed ourselves to arrest
the leaders and all the people who incited violence
against Thai interests.
And we keep our word; we have already compensated
Thailand with more than $US5 million for the restoration
of the Thai embassy. In any case, I would prefer
not to use the words 'rebuild diplomatic relations'
because relations have never been broken, although
they have stepped down at the level of chargée
d'affaires. We have now decided to re-open the
border and we will also send diplomatic missions
in each capital; within days we should concretize
it; send back our ambassador to Bangkok and receive
the Thai ambassador to Phnom Penh.
Q7. The actual event that attracts the attention
on a global scale is the crisis in Iraq. What
are, according to you, the repercussions of this
conflict for Asia and Cambodia and what is the
official position of the Royal Government of Cambodia
regarding this conflict?
A7. First I must say that we sincerely
regret that a peaceful solution could not be found
to disarm from weapons of mass destruction, if
there is any, the Iraqi regime. Any war will cause
certainly losses of innocent civilian people;
therefore we deeply regret this war.
Talking about its repercussions, the impact depends
on how long the war will last. This is the main
question, how long the war will last? But according
to what I saw on TV, we can maybe expect the war
to be very brief. The repercussions will be noticed
worldwide not only in Asia. If this war lasts
a long time, we might have an oil crisis that
will increase the prices everywhere for any type
of good. So the standard of living of the people,
in particular the people in developing countries,
will suffer from the negative effect of this war.
Q8 One important issue in the Cambodian agenda
is the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Last week a draft
agreement was signed in the presence of UN head
negotiator Mr. Hans Corell. What does this Tribunal
mean for Cambodia and when do you expect the Tribunal
to actually take place?
A8. We are very happy with this agreement.
We are happy that the UN accepted to help Cambodia
to try the Khmer Rouge leaders. This also shows
that the Royal Government of Cambodia always keeps
its word. In the past, many people said that Cambodian
leaders did not want to try the Khmer Rouge; they
were wrong, we want to try the Khmer Rouge for
Cambodian history. We want to try the Khmer Rouge
to grant justice for the Cambodian people who
survived that regime and those who died; millions
of Cambodians. Do I have to underline that 3 million
people died under the Khmer Rouge regime? In each
family there are at least 5, 6, 10 or 20 people
killed. In my own family, I have 5 brothers and
sisters and my wife also has 5 brothers and sisters.
We have never counted exactly how many victims
of the Khmer Rouge we had in my family but roughly
it might be about 30. Every Cambodian family has
the same experience. It is a tremendous tragedy
for Cambodia and that is why we have to judge
these Khmers Rouge.
Therefore we are very happy that we signed this
agreement with the UN. Now that the agreement
is signed, we have to see how to try them as soon
as possible. If we cannot try the Khmer Rouge
in a short time these people will die, as some
of them are sick others are more than 70 by now.
Q9. Could you tell us about your career path
and your highest satisfaction while in office?
A9. I have had a diplomatic career. In
1970, when King Norodom Sihanouk was Head of State
by the Lon Nol regime, I was a diplomat in Paris.
And when the coup d'etat took place, I decided
to join the United Front of King Sihanouk. From
then on, I was involved in politics. From a diplomatic
career I became a politician.
I am very happy with my current position because
I am able to help our people and I can help Cambodia
to move ahead. Nowadays I think that the image
of Cambodia in the world is good. We organized
very successfully several summits in Phnom Penh,
last November. The first ever GMS summit was organized
in Phnom Penh, then the ASEAN summit plus three
(China, Japan and Korea) and for the first time
we also had the ASEAN summit with India. Last
but not least we invited the President of South
Africa to come here to brief our leaders about
the new partnership of Africa.
What was really important on that occasion, was
not only that we organized successfully many summits
at the same time but mainly the substance we got
out of it; the documents that were signed by our
leaders. In November, the ASEAN plus three leaders
talked more about East Asia as a whole and we
have paved the way for the future East Asia co-operation;
the East Asia forum, East Asia summit, East Asia
community as a whole. But we need time for this
to be achieved, we have to achieve first a successful
integration among the ASEAN countries.
Next June we will enhance this initiative and
host three very important meetings in Phnom Penh;
the meeting of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers, on
the 16th, the meeting of the Asian Regional Forum
(ARF), on the 18th and on the 19th we have a meeting
with our dialogue partners that we call the PMC,
"Post Ministerial Conference".
Q10. Your Ministry is working to develop the
economical and social welfare of Cambodia. What
would be your final message to foreign investors
interested into Cambodia?
A10. I would say that Cambodia now enjoys
fully peace and stability. Furthermore, Cambodia
has a huge potential for tourism through our ancient
temples.
You have to think ahead; Cambodia is not only
a 12 million Cambodians market, it is a 500 million
people market within the ASEAN. We should settle
the ASEAN free trade area in 2010. Furthermore
Last November, during the ASEAN plus three summits
in Phnom Penh, we have paved the way for a free
trade area with China, Japan and India within
the next 10 years.
Therefore, investing in Cambodia can offer investors
a huge market; ASEAN plus China, Korea, Japan
and India. These countries represent more than
half of the world's population, more than 3 billion;
you can produce here in the free trade area and
then export.
We also established what we call an Industrial
Processing Zone. Now we have a market chained
to MFN (Most Favorite Nation) and GSP (General
System of Preferences), but we have not enough
goods to export to fulfill our quotas. Therefore,
we created this Industrial Processing Zone to
attract Thai and Vietnamese investments.
As a conclusion, I would like to see all our
foreign friends coming to Cambodia and assessing
themselves the potential of the country for their
investments.
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